Emergency boiler & heating engineer
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Emergency boiler and heating repair across the UK

When the boiler dies you usually notice at the worst possible moment - no hot water before work, no heating on the coldest night of the year, or a puddle forming under the unit. Most of what people call a "heating emergency" is really a boiler problem, and it needs a Gas Safe registered engineer, fast. EmergencyLines connects you straight to a verified local heating engineer who can get your boiler and heating working again.

You deal with the engineer directly, not a call centre. Enter your postcode and we find the nearest available Gas Safe engineer with emergency cover and hand you their number. You describe the fault - a lockout code, no hot water, a leak, cold radiators - and agree timing and price with the person who will actually do the work. It is free to see who is available near you.

Because heating work means working on gas, vetting matters: every engineer is checked for identity, right to work, active trading and their registered credentials before they appear on the network. Boiler breakdowns, no heating or hot water, low pressure, leaks, faulty thermostats and cold radiators are all everyday callouts - whatever make of boiler you have, describe it on the call and the right person arrives prepared.

Common boiler and heating faults we get called to

Most "heating emergencies" trace back to a handful of recurring faults. Knowing roughly which one you are looking at helps you describe it accurately on the call, so the engineer arrives with the right parts:

• No hot water or no heating - often a diverter valve, pump or motorised valve rather than a dead boiler
• Boiler locked out on a fault code - a safety lockout; note the code before you reset
• Low or dropping pressure - a leak on the system or a failed expansion vessel
• Frozen condensate pipe - the most common winter no-fire fault, and often a DIY thaw
• Cold radiators or kettling - air, sludge or, in hard-water areas, limescale on the heat exchanger
• Leaking boiler or cylinder - turn it off at the mains and get an engineer out before topping up

What you can safely check before the engineer arrives

A few checks take two minutes and occasionally save a call-out altogether - and if they don't, they tell the engineer exactly where to start. Check the pressure gauge reads roughly 1 to 1.5 bar; confirm the gas, power and thermostat are all on and calling for heat; in cold weather, check the white condensate pipe outside hasn't frozen; and note any fault code on the display. Anything beyond a single reset or a thaw is a job for a Gas Safe registered engineer - a boiler is a gas appliance and must be worked on by someone qualified.

Repair, service or replace?

If the boiler is under about eight years old and the fault is a one-off, a repair almost always makes sense - our boiler repair cost guide shows typical 2026 prices by fault. If it is older, breaking down repeatedly, or parts are hard to source, weigh it against a new boiler. Either way, an annual service is what keeps small faults from becoming a cold-night breakdown - see what a boiler service costs and covers.

Related: Emergency boiler repair · Boiler not working? 6 checks · Boiler repair cost guide

Common questions